When wiring a building so as to permit transmission of data between various work stations or between work stations and a host system, the wiring between such equipment is typically interconnected at a patch panel. Each patch panel may include a plurality of termination devices, each representing either a work station location or a host connection. The patch panel permits interconnection of line cords, which are attached to work stations or the host system. The patch panels themselves may be interconnected by patch cords. The patch cords and line cords may be collectively referred to as patch cables.
Typically, a plurality of patch panels are supported by a patch panel cabinet in a wiring closet where one or more of the cabinets are used to connect various components together using the patch cables to form physical networks. A patch panel would support plural termination devices at a front face thereof along a horizontally extending row with the associated wiring terminated by the termination device extending behind the panel itself. Plural of these panels would be stacked above one another in the cabinet to facilitate the interconnection between various patch panels.
Often, it is necessary to replace one of the patch panels in the cabinet so as to upgrade, change or otherwise conduct maintenance on the devices contained therein. In the normal horizontal orientation of the patch panels, in order to access the patch panel to be changed, it may be necessary to remove adjacent panels to gain access to the patch panel to be changed. Further, when disposing the elongate patch panels in a horizontal disposition, patch cables extending from the front face of the panel have a tendency, due to gravity, to "droop" and to become tangled with other patch cables extending from the patch panels extending above and below the panel. Accessing certain patch cables becomes time consuming and costly. This makes it difficult for the installer to readily make changes in the wiring cabinet.
It is desirable to provide an arrangement of patch panels in a wiring cabinet which would permit the more efficient distribution of such patch cables and the easy removal and reinsertion of patch panels in the cabinet.